We have discovered that hair treating materials such as conditioning or setting agents can be applied to the hair at the same time that tresses are being heat set by using, in conjunction with a conventional heated curling rod, iron, curler or other hair curling device, a flexible tubular sleeve which has been coated or impregnated with a hair treating agent. The sleeve is adapted to fit snugly over the heated portion of the curling iron and has an impermeable barrier layer between the hair treating agent and the curling iron to prevent deposition of the material on the heated surface during use.
Hair treating materials such as conditioning agents and setting agents have in the past been applied to hair in a variety of ways. Probably the most common way has involved the application of liquid or semi-solid compositions directly to the hair as a separate step between the shampooing process and the setting process.
There have been attempts in the past to combine the application of hair treating compositions and the setting process. These attempts are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,003,505 describing a foam hair setting roller impregnated with a hair waving agent which is activated by dipping in water before use. In similar fashion U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,290 describes a paperboard roller having an outer layer of embossed metal foil bearing a dry film coating of a water soluble hair treating agent which is activated by dipping in water. In similar vein is the teaching of U.S. Pat. No. 3,108,604 dealing with a corrugated paperboard cylinder coated with a water soluble hair treating agent.
In contrast with the above patents, which deal generally with hair treating agents activated by contact with water are teachings in the art involving the application of treating materials to the hair during a waving or setting process employing heat. Representative is the teaching of Belgian Pat. No. 513,943 in which lanolin-impregnated end tissues are used with hot waving pads.
A variation of the above is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,930 disclosing a heatable, vapor-applying hair curler having a heat storage body, a liquid reservoir surrounding the body, and an outer casing having perforations therein which allow a vaporized liquid to be emitted from the reservoir when the body is heated.
Although not directly related to the treatment of human hair, there is a body of prior art dealing with the application of treating compositions to laundry by commingling articles of damp clothing and a flexible substrate carrying a conditioning agent by tumbling them under heat in a laundry dryer to effect transfer of the conditioning agent to the clothing while it is being dried. This type of technology is described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,442,692. The use of impregnated flexible substrates to apply normally solid hair conditioning agents to the hair is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,149,551; 4,206,195; 4,206,196; and 4,296,783.
It is an object of this invention to provide an article and a method for treating hair employing a tubular substrate and a hair treating agent.
A further object of the invention is to provide an article and method for treating the hair while simultaneously setting it by using a tubular article having releasably associated therewith a normally solid hair treating agent.
A still further object of this invention is to provide such an article and method to be used in conjunction with a source of heat for setting the hair.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the description to follow.